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Eddie DeBartolo celebrates victory with sister

Bay Area News Group

Posted:
01/20/2013 05:50:27 PM PST

Updated:
01/20/2013 05:50:27 PM PST

Winning, like time, heals all wounds.

Eddie DeBartolo and his sister Denise DeBartolo York publicly expressed love for each other Sunday following the victory that put the 49ers in the Super Bowl. The sibling relationship, strained in 2000 by the legal problems that forced DeBartolo to cede control of the team to his sister, didn't seem especially warm and fuzzy during the nationally televised trophy presentation after the 49ers' 28-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

But the words were there.

"We have been through this thick and then," DeBartolo York said after her brother had accepted the trophy and declared his love for all involved. "The dynasty will prevail."

DeBartolo, 66, was designated as an honorary captain for the game, but his front-and-center presence at the trophy presentation came as a surprise. For DeBartolo, it also had to have come as a relief; he had loudly predicted for the 49ers this week, pulling no punches in saying it was "a warm-up game" for the 49ers and that they were "just too good" for the Falcons.